Laser light pulse technology is highly effective at hair removal but can also be used as a non-invasive way to resurface the outer layer of the skin. This allows treatment of several types of skin blemishes, including fine lines and wrinkles, sun or age spots, uneven pigmentation, and loose or stretched skin.
Laser skin resurfacing can also be used to treat uneven skin texture and traumatic scars, including acne scars.
What Type of Laser is Used?
Lasers used for skin resurfacing differ from those used for hair removal in one important respect. Instead of creating light pulses that are focused onto hair follicles beneath the skin’s surface, lasers used for skin resurfacing are known as fractionated lasers. These lasers create thousands of very fine lines of focused light energy.
How do Fractionated Lasers Work to Resurface the Skin?
The light energy is concentrated into fine lines, which penetrate relatively deep into the skin. The light energy does not damage the outer layer of the skin but leads to the creation of new tissue underneath. It also stimulates ongoing collagen production – collagen is key to the skin’s resiliency, elasticity, and overall tone. The overall effect is to accelerate skin healing, leading to effective rejuvenation of the skin from deep inside.
The fractionated nature of the light energy limits the percentage of affected skin cells in the area being treated to between 20% and 25%. This means that only a fraction of skin cells are exposed to the laser light during each treatment session. Limiting the number of cells that are exposed to the laser energy results in faster overall healing in the targeted area and reduces undesirable redness and swelling after treatment.
The treatment is typically repeated between three to five times, performed every four to six weeks. This allows time for the skin to heal after each treatment; multiple treatments allow for the most complete effect to be achieved while minimizing the recovery time and allowing improvements to become apparent in a more gradual and natural-looking manner.
How Well Can Lasers Treat Scars?
Acne scars can take several forms, ranging from various degrees of skin depression and skin pigmentation changes to more severe cases where the skin has become raised and thickened. They are also typically accompanied by skin texture changes. The fractionated resurfacing laser is well-positioned to treat thick and/or bumpy scar tissue. The laser treatment may not be able to make severe scars disappear entirely, but it should be able to reduce the visibility and severity of the scar significantly.
The skills and experience of the practitioner performing the procedure are extremely important – the technique requires considerable skill on the part of the person wielding the laser, and the procedure is capable of producing poor or even dangerous results in the hands of an inexperienced or poorly trained practitioner.
In some cases, the best results may be obtained by combining laser skin resurfacing with other non-invasive cosmetic treatments, such as dermal fillers. Our recommendation is to find a qualified and experienced practitioner who specializes both in laser skin resurfacing as well as in a wide range of other cosmetic procedures.
Your Laser Skin Care
Your Laser Skin Care practitioners are medically qualified and highly experienced in performing laser skin resurfacing. We can provide expert advice on the best ways to address your particular situation and will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you have. We also have extensive experience with a wide variety of other non-invasive cosmetic procedures, including dermal fillers. We can help you choose the safest, most effective, and most cost-effective way to achieve your cosmetic goals. Call us at (323) 525-1516 to schedule a free consultation, or visit us online for more information.
